This article was originally published on July 21, 2021.
For thousands of years, humans have whispered and wondered about the possibility of entire cities sinking into the ocean. One of the most famous of these lost metropolises, Atlantis, cropped up in conversation thanks to Plato, who claimed that the city had dropped beneath the waves millennia before he even wrote about it.
While debates over whether Atlantis is real have continued ever since the ancient Greek introduced the idea, underwater buildings, streets and edifices of other ancient cities have revealed themselves to researchers. These sunken homes, businesses and meeting places are as beautiful as they are eerie: They prove that size and importance aren’t enough to keep a thriving community above water.
